Transformation of Stresses and Strains

David Roylance
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
May 14, 2001
Introduction
One of the most common problems in mechanics of materials involves transformation of axes.
For instance, we may know the stresses acting on xy planes, but are really more interested in
the stresses acting on planes oriented at, say, 30

to the x axis as seen in Fig. 1, perhaps because

these are close-packed atomic planes on which sliding is prone to occur, or is the angle at which
two pieces of lumber are glued together in a scarf joint. We seek a means to transform the
stresses to these new x

planes.
Figure 1: Rotation of axes in two dimensions.
These transformations are vital in analyses of stress and strain, both because they are needed
to compute critical values of these entities and also because the tensorial nature of stress and
strain is most clearly seen in their transformation properties. Other entities, such as moment of
inertia and curvature, also transform in a manner similar to stress and strain. All of these are
second-rank tensors, an important concept that will be outlined later in this module.
Direct approach
The rules for stress transformations can be developed directly from considerations of static
equilibrium. For illustration, consider the case of uniaxial tension shown in Fig. 2 in which all
stresses other than
y
are zero. A free body diagram is then constructed in which the specimen
is cut along the inclined plane on which the stresses, labeled
y
and
x

y
, are desired. The
key here is to note that the area on which these transformed stresses act is dierent than the
area normal to the y axis, so that both the areas and the forces acting on them need to be
transformed. Balancing forces in the y

direction (the direction normal to the inclined plane):

1
Figure 2: An inclined plane in a tensile specimen.
(
y
A) cos =
y

_
A
cos
_

y
=
y
cos
2
(1)
Similarly, a force balance in the tangential direction gives

y
=
y
sin cos (2)
Example 1
Consider a unidirectionally reinforced composite ply with strengths
1
in the ber direction,
2
in the
transverse direction, and
12
in shear. As the angle between the ber direction and an applied tensile
stress
y
is increased, the stress in the ber direction will decrease according to Eqn. 1. If the ply were
to fail by ber fracture alone, the stress
y,b
needed to cause failure would increase with misalignment
according to
y,b
=
1
/ cos
2
.
However, the shear stresses as given by Eqn. 2 increase with , so the
y
stress needed for shear
failure drops. The strength
y,b
is the smaller of the stresses needed to cause ber-direction or shear
failure, so the strength becomes limited by shear after only a few degrees of misalignment. In fact, a 15

o-axis tensile specimen has been proposed as a means of measuring intralaminar shear strength. When
the orientation angle approaches 90

, failure is dominated by the transverse strength. The experimental

data shown in Fig. 3 are for glass-epoxy composites
1
, which show good but not exact agreement with
these simple expressions.
A similar approach, but generalized to include stresses
x
and
xy
on the original xy planes
as shown in Fig. 4 (see Prob. 2) gives:

x
=
x
cos
2
+
y
sin
2
+ 2
xy
sin cos

y
=
x
sin
2
+
y
cos
2
2
xy
sin cos

y
= (
y

x
) sin cos +
xy
(cos
2
sin
2
)
(3)
These relations can be written in pseudovector-matrix form as
_

_
=
_

_
c
2
s
2
2sc
s
2
c
2
2sc
sc sc c
2
s
2
_

_
_

xy
_

_
(4)
1
R.M. Jones, Mechanics of Composite Materials, McGraw-Hill, 1975.
2
Figure 3: Stress applied at an angle to the bers in a one-dimensional ply.
Figure 4: Stresses on inclined plane.
where c = cos and s = sin. This can be abbreviated as

= A (5)
where A is the transformation matrix in brackets above. This expression would be valid for
three dimensional as well as two dimensional stress states, although the particular form of A
given in Eqn. 4 is valid in two dimensions only (plane stress), and for Cartesian coordinates.
Using either mathematical or geometric arguments (see Probs. 3 and 4), it can be shown
that the components of innitesimal strain transform by almost the same relations:
_

1
2

_
= A
_

y
1
2

xy
_

_
(6)
The factor of 1/2 on the shear components arises from the classical denition of shear strain,
which is twice the tensorial shear strain. This introduces some awkwardness into the transfor-
mation relations, some of which can be reduced by dening the Reuters matrix as
[R] =
_

_
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 2
_

_ or [R]
1
=
_

_
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0
1
2
_

_ (7)
We can now write:
_

_
= R
_

1
2

_
= RA
_

y
1
2

xy
_

_
= RAR
1
_

xy
_

_
3
Or

= RAR
1
(8)
As can be veried by expanding this relation, the transformation equations for strain can also
be obtained from the stress transformation equations (e.g. Eqn. 3) by replacing with and
with /2:

x
=
x
cos
2
+
y
sin
2
+
xy
sin cos

y
=
x
sin
2
+
y
cos
2

xy
sin cos

y
= 2(
y

x
) sin cos +
xy
(cos
2
sin
2
)
(9)
Example 2
Consider the biaxial strain state
=
_
_
_

_
_
_
=
_
_
_
0.01
0.01
0
_
_
_
The state of strain

referred to axes rotated by = 45

from the x-y axes can be computed by matrix

multiplication as:
A =
_
_
c
2
s
2
2sc
s
2
c
2
2sc
sc sc c
2
s
2
_
_
=
_
_
0.5 0.5 1.0
0.5 0.5 1.0
0.5 0.5 0.0
_
_
Then

= RAR
1

=
_
_
1.0 0.0 0.0
0.0 1.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 2.0
_
_
_
_
0.5 0.5 1.0
0.5 0.5 1.0
0.5 0.5 0.0
_
_
_
_
1.0 0.0 0.0
0.0 1.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.5
_
_
=
_
_
_
0.00
0.00
0.02
_
_
_
Obviously, the matrix multiplication method is tedious unless matrix-handling software is available, in
which case it becomes very convenient.
Mohrs circle
Everyday experience with such commonplace occurrences as pushing objects at an angle gives
us all a certain intuitive sense of how vector transformations work. Second-rank tensor trans-
formations seem more abstract at rst, and a device to help visualize them is of great value. As
it happens, the transformation equations have a famous (among engineers) graphical interpre-
tation known as Mohrs circle
2
. The Mohr procedure is justied mathematically by using the
trigonometric double-angle relations to show that Eqns. 3 have a circular representation (see
Prob. 5), but it can probably best be learned simply by memorizing the following recipe
3
:
2
Presented in 1900 by the German engineer Otto Mohr (18351918).
3
An interactive web demonstration of Mohrs circle construction is available at
<http://web.mit.edu/course/3/3.11/www/java/mohr.html>.
4
1. Draw the stress square, noting the values on the x and y faces; Fig. 5(a) shows a hypo-
thetical case for illustration. For the purpose of Mohrs circle only, regard a shear stress
acting in a clockwise-rotation sense as being positive, and counter-clockwise as negative.
The shear stresses on the x and y faces must then have opposite signs. The normal stresses
are positive in tension and negative in compression, as usual.
Figure 5: Stress square (a) and Mohrs circle (b) for
x
= +5,
y
= 3,
xy
= +4. (c) Stress
state on inclined plane.
2. Construct a graph with as the ordinate (y axis) and as abscissa, and plot the stresses
on the x and y faces of the stress square as two points on this graph. Since the shear
stresses on these two faces are the negative of one another, one of these points will be
above the -axis exactly as far as the other is below. It is helpful to label the two points
as x and y.
3. Connect these two points with a straight line. It will cross the axis at the lines midpoint.
This point will be at (
x
+
y
)/2, which in our illustration is [5 + (3)]/2 = 1.
4. Place the point of a compass at the lines midpoint, and set the pencil at the end of the
line. Draw a circle with the line as a diameter. The completed circle for our illustrative
stress state is shown in Fig. 5(b).
5. To determine the stresses on a stress square that has been rotated through an angle
with respect to the original square, rotate the diametral line in the same direction through
twice this angle; i.e. 2. The new end points of the line can now be labeled x

and y

, and
their - values are the stresses on the rotated x

-y

axes as shown in Fig. 5(c).

There is nothing mysterious or magical about the Mohrs circle; it is simply a device to help
visualize how stresses and other second-rank tensors change when the axes are rotated.
It is clear in looking at the Mohrs circle in Fig. 5(c) that there is something special about
axis rotations that cause the diametral line to become either horizontal or vertical. In the rst
case, the normal stresses assume maximal values and the shear stresses are zero. These normal
stresses are known as the principal stresses,
p1
and
p2
, and the planes on which they act are
the principal planes. If the material is prone to fail by tensile cracking, it will do so by cracking
along the principal planes when the value of
p1
exceeds the tensile strength.
Example 3
It is instructive to use a Mohrs circle construction to predict how a piece of blackboard chalk will break
in torsion, and then verify it in practice. The torsion produces a state of pure shear as shown in Fig. 6,
5
which causes the principal planes to appear at 45

to the chalks long axis. The crack will appear

transverse to the principal tensile stress, producing a spiral-like failure surface. (As the crack progresses
into the chalk, the state of pure shear is replaced by a more complicated stress distribution, so the last
part of the failure surface deviates from this ideal path to one running along the axial direction.) This
is the same type of fracture that occurred all too often in skiers femurs, before the advent of modern
safety bindings.
Figure 6: Mohrs circle for simple torsion.
Figure 7: Principal stresses on Mohrs circle.
By direct Pythagorean construction as shown in Fig. 7, the Mohrs circle shows that the
angle from the x-y axes to the principal planes is
tan 2
p
=

xy
(
x

y
)/2
(10)
and the values of the principal stresses are

p1,p1
=

x
+
y
2

_
_

x

y
2
_
2
+
2
xy
(11)
where the rst term above is the -coordinate of the circles center, and the second is its radius.
When the Mohrs circle diametral line is vertical, the shear stresses become maximum, equal
in magnitude to the radius of the circle:
6

max
=
_
_

x

y
2
_
2
+
2
xy
=

p1

p2
2
(12)
The points of maximum shear are 90

away from the principal stress points on the Mohrs circle,

so on the actual specimen the planes of maximum shear are 45

from the principal planes. The

molecular sliding associated with yield is driven by shear, and usually takes place on the planes
of maximum shear. A tensile specimen has principal planes along and transverse to its loading
direction, so shear slippage will occur on planes 45

from the loading direction. These slip

planes can often be observed as shear bands on the specimen.
Note that normal stresses may appear on the planes of maximum shear, so the situation
is not quite the converse of the principal planes, on which the shear stresses vanish while the
normal stresses are maximum. If the normal stresses happen to vanish on the planes of maximum
shear, the stress state is said to be one of pure shear, such as is induced by simple torsion.
A state of pure shear is therefore one for which a rotation of axes exists such that the normal
stresses vanish, which is possible only if the center of the Mohrs circle is at the origin, i.e.
(
x
+
y
)/2 = 0. More generally, a state of pure shear is one in which the trace of the stress
(and strain) matrix vanishes.
Example 4
Figure 8: Strain and stress Mohrs circles for simple shear.
Mohrs circles can be drawn for strains as well as stresses, with shear strain plotted on the ordinate and
normal strain on the abscissa. However, the ordinate must be /2 rather than just , due to the way
classical innitesimal strains are dened. Consider a state of pure shear with strain and stress as
shown in Fig. 8, such as might be produced by placing a circular shaft in torsion. A Mohrs circle for
strain quickly shows the principal strain, on a plane 45

away, is given by
1
= /2. Hookes law for shear
gives = G, so
1
= /2G. The principal strain is also related to the principal stresses by

1
=
1
E
(
1

2
)
The Mohrs circle for stress gives
1
=
2
= , so this can be written

2G
=
1
E
[ ()]
Canceling and rearranging, we have the relation among elastic constants stated earlier without proof:
G =
E
2(1 + )
7
General approach
Figure 9: Transformation of vectors.
Another approach to the stress transformation equations, capable of easy extension to three
dimensions, starts with the familiar relations by which vectors are transformed in two dimensions
(see Fig. 9):
T
x
= T
x
cos + T
y
sin
T
y
= T
x
sin + T
y
cos
In matrix form, this is
_
T
x

T
y

_
=
_
cos sin
sin cos
_ _
T
x
T
y
_
or
T

= aT (13)
where a is another transformation matrix that serves to transform the vector components in the
original coordinate system to those in the primed system. In index-notation terms, this could
also be denoted a
ij
, so that
T

i
= a
ij
T
j
The individual elements of a
ij
are the cosines of the angles between the i
th
primed axis and the
j
th
unprimed axis.
It can be shown by direct examination that the a matrix has the useful property that its
inverse equals its transpose; i.e., a
1
= a
T
. We can multiply Eqn. 13 by a
T
to give
a
T
T

= (a
T
a)T = T (14)
so the transformation can go from primed to unprimed, or the reverse.
These relations can be extended to yield an expression for transformation of stresses (or
strains, or moments of inertia, or other similar quantities). Recall Cauchys relation in matrix
form:
[] n = T
Using Eqn. 14 to transform the n and T vectors into their primed counterparts, we have
8
[]a
T
n

= a
T
T

Multiplying through by a:
(a[]a
T
) n

= (aa
T
)T

= T

This is just Cauchys relation again, but in the primed coordinate frame. The quantity in
parentheses must therefore be [

]:
[

] = a[]a
T
(15)
Therefore, transformation of stresses and can be done by pre- and postmultiplying by the same
transformation matrix applicable to vector transformation. This can also be written out using
index notation, which provides another illustration of the transformation dierences between
scalars (zero-rank tensors), vectors (rst-rank tensors), and second-rank tensors:
rank 0: b

= b
rank 1: T

i
= a
ij
T
j
rank 2:

ij
= a
ij
a
kl

kl
(16)
In practical work, it is not always a simple matter to write down the nine elements of the
a matrix needed in Eqn. 15. The squares of the components of n for any given plane must
sum to unity, and in order for the three planes of the transformed stress cube to be mutually
perpendicular the dot product between any two plane normals must vanish. So not just any nine
numbers will make sense. Obtaining a is made much easier by using Euler angles to describe
axis transformations in three dimensions.
Figure 10: Transformation in terms of Euler angles.
As shown in Fig. 10, the nal transformed axes are visualized as being achieved in three
steps: rst, rotate the original x-y-z axes by an angle (psi) around the z-axis to obtain a
new frame we may call x

-y

-z. Next, rotate this new frame by an angle about the x

axis to
obtain another frame we can call x

-y

-z

. Finally, rotate this frame by an angle (phi) around

the z

axis to obtain the nal frame x

-y

-z

. These three transformations correspond to the

transformation matrix
a =
_
_
cos sin 0
sin cos 0
0 0 1
_
_
_
_
1 0 0
0 cos sin
0 sin cos
_
_
_
_
cos sin 0
sin cos 0
0 0 1
_
_
9
This multiplication would certainly be a pain if done manually, but is a natural for a computa-
tional approach.
Example 5
The output below shows a computer evaluation of a three-dimensional stress transformation, in this
case using Maple
TM
symbolic mathematics software.
# read linear algebra library
> with(linalg):
# Define Euler-angle transformation matrices:
> a1:=array(1..3,1..3,[[cos(psi),sin(psi),0],[-sin(psi),cos(psi),0],[0,0
> ,1]]);
[cos(psi) sin(psi) 0]
a1 := [-sin(psi) cos(psi) 0]
[ 0 0 1]
> a2:=array(1..3,1..3,[[1,0,0],[0,cos(theta),sin(theta)],[0,-sin(theta),
> cos(theta)]]);
[1 0 0 ]
a2 := [0 cos(theta) sin(theta)]
[0 -sin(theta) cos(theta)]
> a3:=array(1..3,1..3,[[cos(phi),sin(phi),0],[-sin(phi),cos(phi),0],[0,0
> ,1]]);
[cos(phi) sin(phi) 0]
a3 := [-sin(phi) cos(phi) 0]
[ 0 0 1]
# Overall transformation matrix (multiply individual Euler matrices):
> a:=a1&*a2&*a3;
a := (a1 &* a2) &* a3
# Set precision and read in Euler angles (converted to radians); here
# we are rotating 30 degrees around the z axis only.
> Digits:=4;psi:=0;theta:=30*(Pi/180);phi:=0;
Digits := 4
psi := 0
theta := 1/6 Pi
phi := 0
# Display transformation matrix for these angles: "evalf" evaluates the
# matrix element, and "map" applies the evaluation to each element of
# the matrix.
> aa:=map(evalf,evalm(a));
[1. 0. 0. ]
aa := [0. .8660 .5000]
[0. -.5000 .8660]
# Define the stress matrix in the unprimed frame:
> sigma:=array(1..3,1..3,[[1,2,3],[2,4,5],[3,5,6]]);
[1 2 3]
sigma := [2 4 5]
[3 5 6]
# The stress matrix in the primed frame is then given by Eqn. 15:
> sigma_prime=map(evalf,evalm(aa&*sigma&*transpose(aa)));
[ 1. 3.232 1.598]
sigma_prime = [3.232 8.830 3.366]
[1.598 3.366 1.170]
10
Principal stresses and planes in three dimensions
Figure 11: Traction vector normal to principal plane.
The Mohrs circle procedure is not capable of nding principal stresses for three-dimensional
stress states, and a more general method is needed. In three dimensions, we seek orientations
of axes such that no shear stresses appear, leaving only normal stresses in three orthogonal
directions. The vanishing of shear stresses on a plane means that the stress vector T is normal
to the plane, illustrated in two dimensions in Fig. 11. The traction vector can therefore be
written as
T =
p
n
where
p
is a simple scalar quantity, the magnitude of the stress vector. Using this in Cauchys
relation:
n = T =
p
n
(
p
I) n = 0 (17)
Here I is the unit matrix. This system will have a nontrivial solution ( n = 0) only if its
determinant is zero:
|
p
I| =

x

p

xy

xz

xy

y

p

yz

xz

yz

z

p

= 0
Expanding the determinant yields a cubic polynomial equation in
p
:
f(
p
) =
3
p
I
1

2
p
+ I
2

p
I
3
= 0 (18)
This is the characteristic equation for stress, where the coecients are
I
1
=
x
+
y
+
z
=
kk
(19)
I
2
=
x

y
+
x

z
+
y

z

2
xy

2
yz

2
xz
=
1
2
(
ii

jj

ij

ij
) (20)
11
I
3
= det || =
1
3

ij

jk

ki
(21)
These I parameters are known as the invariants of the stress state; they do not change with
transformation of the coordinates and can be used to characterize the overall nature of the
stress. For instance I
1
, which has been identied earlier as the trace of the stress matrix, will be
seen in a later section to be a measure of the tendency of the stress state to induce hydrostatic
dilation or compression. We have already noted that the stress state is one of pure shear if its
trace vanishes.
Since the characteristic equation is cubic in
p
, it will have three roots, and it can be shown
that all three roots must be real. These roots are just the principal stresses
p1
,
p2
, and
p3
.
Example 6
Consider a state of simple shear with
xy
= 1 and all other stresses zero:
[] =
_
_
0 1 0
1 0 0
0 0 0
_
_
The invariants are
I
1
= 0, I
2
= 1, I
3
= 0
and the characteristic equation is

3
p

p
= 0
This equation has roots of (-1,0,1) corresponding to principal stresses
p1
= 1,
p2
= 0,
p3
= 1,
and is plotted in Fig. 12. This is the same stress state considered in Example 4, and the roots of the
characteristic equation agree with the principal values shown by the Mohrs circle.
Figure 12: The characteristic equation for
xy
= 1, all other stresses zero.
12
Problems
1. Develop an expression for the stress needed to cause transverse failure in a unidirectionally
oriented composite as a function of the angle between the load direction and the ber
direction, and show this function in a plot of strength versus .
2. Use a free-body force balance to derive the two-dimensional Cartesian stress transformation
equations as

x
=
x
cos
2
+
y
sin
2
+ 2
xy
sin cos

y
=
x
sin
2
+
y
cos
2
2
xy
sin cos

y
= (
y

x
) sin cos +
xy
(cos
2
sin
2
)
Or
_

_
=
_

_
c
2
s
2
2sc
s
2
c
2
2sc
sc sc c
2
s
2
_

_
_

xy
_

_
where c = cos and s = sin .
Prob. 2
3. Develop mathematical relations for displacements and gradients along transformed axes
of the form
u

= u cos + v sin

=

x

x
x

+

y

y
x

=

x
cos +

y
sin
with analogous expressions for v

and /y

. Use these to obtain the strain transformation

equations (Eqn. 6).
4. Consider a line segment AB of length ds
2
= dx
2
+ dy
2
, oriented at an angle from the
Cartesian x y axes as shown. Let the dierential displacement of end B relative to end
A be
du =
u
x
dx +
u
y
dy
13
dv =
v
x
dx +
v
y
dy
Use this geometry to derive the strain transformation equations (Eqn. 6), where the x

axis is along line AB.

Prob. 4
5. Employ double-angle trigonometric relations to show that the two-dimensional Cartesian
stress transformation equations can be written in the form

x
=
x+y
2
+
xy
2
cos 2 +
xy
sin 2

y
=
xy
2
sin 2 +
xy
cos 2

y
=
x+y
2
+
xy
2
cos 2
xy
sin 2
Use these relations to justify the Mohrs circle construction.
6. Use matrix multiplication (Eqns. 5 or 8) to transform the following stress and strain states
to axes rotated by = 30

from the original x-y axes.

(a)
=
_

_
1.0
2.0
3.0
_

_
(b)
=
_

_
0.01
0.02
0.03
_

_
7. Sketch the Mohrs circles for each of the stress states shown in the gure below.
8. Construct Mohrs circle solutions for the transformations of Prob. 6.
9. Draw the Mohrs circles and determine the magnitudes of the principal stresses for the
following stress states. Denote the principal stress state on a suitably rotated stress square.
(a)
x
= 30 MPa,
y
= 10 MPa,
xy
= 25 MPa.
(b)
x
= 30 MPa,
y
= 90 MPa,
xy
= 40 MPa.
(c)
x
= 10 MPa,
y
= 20 MPa,
xy
= 15 MPa.
14
Prob. 7
10. Show that the values of principal stresses given by Mohrs circle agree with those ob-
tained mathematically by setting to zero the derivatives of the stress with respect to the
transformation angle.
11. For the 3-dimensional stress state
x
= 25,
y
= 15,
z
= 30,
yz
= 20,
xz
= 10,

xy
= 30 (all in MPa):
(a) Determine the stress state for Euler angles = 20

, = 30

, = 25

.
(b) Plot the characteristic equation.
(c) Determine the principal stresses.
15